Taradale’s ‘Gorse Must Die’ Project – 3 years on!
Posted on 30 March, 2015 by Connecting Country
In 2012, Connecting Country and Taradale Landcare embarked on an ambitious project to restore Kangaroo Creek. The project involved seven private properties, important roadsides and water authority land. Connecting Country developed the site management plan and provided a financial contribution towards the implementation of this project. Financial support was also received for the project from the Victorian Gorse Taskforce and from the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (as it was then known) with the invaluable in-kind support from by the landholders and the Taradale Landcare Group. Today, the field of gorse that once surrounded the creek has been eradicated and the local landholders continue to do the necessary follow-up control of gorse regrowth and are starting to revegetate the area. The following piece was written by one of the landholders, Suzanne Donisthorpe. A huge congratulations to her and the other landholders involved for their incredible and inspiring efforts.
Taradale gorse warriors; Alex Panelli, Suzanne Donisthorpe, and Frank Veldez with his custom-made gorse pick
We live in Taradale in central Victoria- or Taradise as some of us call it – and life is good. The country is beautiful and the community is close-knit and vibrant. We live up the top of a hill and our property backs onto the forest- so there are a vast variety of birds: thornbills, choughs, magpies, parrots, kookaburras and finches, a big mob of kangaroos, a very tame family of possums and an echidna that makes the occasional visit. We have had a koala sighting and an emu popped up one day – although apparently it was someone’s pet and had escaped from Elphinstone. There has even been a sighting of the legendary Black Panther – but that’s another story. All these animals and birds are native to the land – apart from the panther- and they provide nothing but joy.
But there is a Snake in every Taradise and ours was a substantial and growing gorse problem that had spread from the Kangaroo Creek at the bottom of our property and up the hill in a vast prickly impenetrable mass. When visitors admired the sea of yellow flowers in spring and autumn, we felt sick. Over the years the gorse had been occasionally slashed down from a monstrous towering beast, big enough to hide an old 1890’s harvester, entirely buried in 8 foot high gorse. But that did nothing really, except give it a good pruning that merely encouraged more vigorous regrowth.
And every year that sea of yellow flowers spread the sea of gorse ever further. It was a Triffid and it was gaining power. We needed help. Fast.
The sea of gorse once found of Suzanne’s property.
One day, our friend Eliza Tree -the self proclaimed Weed Queen of Castlemaine- came visiting. She suggested we get in contact with the good people of Connecting Country and see if they could help. We thought the best way to tackle the Gorse Monster was to form a band of Mighty Weed Warriors- so we called in the neighbours whose properties connected to ours along the creek and together we formed the Gorse Must Die proposal. Altogether we had seven property owners involved. Over tea and scones and sometimes wine and dinner we plotted how this would work. We were delighted when Chris Timewell from Connecting Country agreed to come and talk to us about what might be done. Apparently our part of the world was in yellow box country which was of particular interest to Connecting Country at the time, so after a bit of umming and ahhing, Chris took away our hopes and dreams and turned them into a solid, very bureaucratic and therefore properly serious proposal. This was a huge amount of work, and we are forever grateful to Chris and the team for dotting all those i s and crossing all those t s.
Then we planned the attack.
Like all enemies, it’s best to know what you are up against and Chris and the Kate Smith from the local Landcare group were well versed in the Battle of the Gorse. They planned chemical attack, hacking, burning, revegetation and diligent follow up. Poison, Slash and Burn. Practically Viking!
As artists our contribution was to create the Giant Gorse Rabbit, a mythical creature- half plague species- half noxious weed, towering over 14 ft high. We took the story of the Evil Gorse Rabbit to shows in Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsular and Lot 19 in Castlemaine – where it even won the converted Spring Sculpture prize.
Frank’s famous ‘Evil Gorse Rabbit’
And on a glorious winter solstice night – we set light to the rabbit and danced through the night. It was all very satisfying, but to really Make Gorse Die, you need more than art. You need Vikings.
One still morning, a few months after the seeds of the project were planted, all the obstacles and problems had been sorted out and the truck with the spraying hose came.
The Terminator had arrived. It was a very happy day.
The Terminator turned out to be a very lovely family of local weed control experts who really knew what they were doing. Over the course of a couple of weeks – after the spraying- we began to notice a kind of yellow pallor taking over the previously vigorous gorse. It was suffering. It was wilting. It was like that moment when Dorothy poured water on the Wicked Witch of the West.
We raised our glasses. What had been a formidable enemy was retreating. The gorse at our place was sick as, as was the gorse on the other properties.
A few months passed. Now the gorse was as dead looking as your average zombie. We slashed it down where it rotted to almost nothing, while providing some cover for the small natives to grow. Suddenly in spring, instead of a sea of bilious yellow gorse, there were chocolate orchids, starry pink flowers, flax lilies…it was a miracle.
But like all zombies- just when you think it is dead, it may just be sleeping. Sure enough, after rain and sun, the rise and rise of the evil infant gorse was discernible.
Time for some spray pack action.
And to this day you will find us, most weekends, walking the killing fields of Taradise, with spray gun at the ready with a back-pack of appropriate poison generously supplied by Connecting Country – continuing the battle. Frank has even fashioned a custom made gorse pick. There is a kind of evil glee in seeing the yellowing forms appearing once again as the mighty enemy attempts to stage a resurrection and falls once again.
We know the battle is on-going, but we now have an enemy that is persistent rather than impenetrable. Many many thanks to Connecting County and the Mighty Warriors who helped us Make Gorse Die.
Suzanne’s property and Kangaroo Creek – 3 years on..
I, and I think the community, would like to know which herbicides were used in this project?
Hi Carlo, Thanks for your interest in this post about gorse control, is difficult and doesn’t happen quickly. The seeds in the soil can continue sprouting for years after the prickly mature adult plants have been removed. As is occurring at the Taradale site, gorse almost always needs an integrated control approach adapted to the site conditions. For all of the gorse-related projects that we are able to support, the National Gorse Best Practice Manual is an important guiding document (http://www.weeds.org.au/WoNS/gorse/). Amongst a range of other control techniques, Chapter 2 provides details of the range of registered herbicides that can be used, and how they work. Chapter 3 is also very helpful in determining which gorse control method(s) will work best in a range of situations.
The state government also has some good information on gorse control on their website (http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/agriculture-and-food/pests-diseases-and-weeds/weeds/a-z-of-weeds/gorse ).
Hope this is helpful.
Chris
What a wonderful story and well done to everyone involved. It is great to see real work being done on weeds and to show that you can get on top of things with the right help and wonderful determination.
Again congratulations on all the great work!
Well done to all the Weed Warriors of Taradale in their fight against the ghastly gorse.
As a former resident of Asbourne, near Woodend I know firsthand the horrors of trying and failing to eradicate the gorse on our property. If only we had the help of people like you.
Mount Macedon Shire has been a haven for this and other noxious weeds such as blackberry and bracken.
Keep up the good work and persist and one day you will no longer have to.